Abstract
A Russian Tanker sank in Japan Sea on February 2, 1997 and the spilled oil is dispersed along the Japanese Coastline. In this incident, the spilled oil flowed west over 300km for 15days. It has been known in the Japan Sea that in winter the wind driven current is dominant over the tidal flow and sea current. This study, therefore, explores the relation between wind and surface current using the measured data off the Noto Peninsula as well as the calculated geostrophic wind. The wind data is analyzed to obtain the predominant wind direction of NW and the deviation from the gcostrophic flow. The auto-correlation study of wind and surface current gives the correlation scale of 20h and 13h for wind and current respectively. The cross-correlation study gives the wind-to-current response time scale of 5h.
